Former Ms. Washington Sentenced in Murder Case

Peggy Sue Thomas, a former Ms. Washington, was sentenced to four years in prison for her role in the murder of a former colleague's husband, ABC News reports.

Thomas accepted a plea bargain in January, one week before she was due to stand trial on a first-degree murder charge. She pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance in the first degree and prosecutors recommended a four-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.

In the case, prosecutors alleged that Thomas and her then-boyfriend, James Huden, lured Russel Douglas into a remote area so Huden could shoot him. He was found dead in a car in Freeland, Whidbey Island, two days after Christmas 2003.

At his trial last year, Huden declined to reveal why he targeted Douglas and rejected a deal to testify against Thomas. Huden was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

The ex-beauty queen, who was named Ms. Washington back in 2000, also declined to come clean about the murder when given a chance in court on Friday. However, she apologized to the family when she accepted her plea bargain in January. "I'm not the woman that's been portrayed in the papers over the last few years," she said. "I would want to tell Russell Douglas and his family that I am so sorry for their loss."